Kris J. Kraus, Esq.

Like the bastard hybrid of William Kunstler and Ari Emanuel I rep not only the unjustly accused, but also the bad boys of funk and hard rock. But that is just the begining... My passport says that I was born in Manhattan, while my birth certificate says Buffalo, my driver's license says Staten Island. I grew up six blocks from Canada, but now I live six blocks from the Pacific Ocean and a short ride away from Mexico. I'm Jewish, but named Kris, never had a bar mitzvah, and went to Catholic school. So even though I'm in my mid-thirties and used to live down the street from Seinfeld, I'm not a man yet. And don't forget that I'm half Italian when you talk Spanish to me and I don't understand you.Currently, I split my time between representing criminal defendants (narcotic smugglers, human traffickers, assaults, gun crimes, and immigration based offenses)in Federal Court in San Diego where I'm at ground zero of the immigration debate and working with YEAR OF THE DRAGON (featuring DIRTY WALT KIBBY of Fishbone and members of Sound Barrier).While in law school, I was an intern for the Legal Aid Society of New York City in their Criminal Defense Division in the Bronx and Queens, as well as, the Federal Defender Division in Brooklyn. I also was at the center of a nation-wide controversy when I, as Criminal Law Society vice-president, defied our dean and presented Lynne Stewart an award on behalf of our graduating students in 2003.Prior to attending CUNY, I was a graduate student in the American Studies program at the University of Buffalo. There I had the opportunity and honor of studing with Charlie Kiel (author of the seminal Urban Blues), Oren Lyons (Onondaga Faithkeeper and Chief of the Hau de no sau nee), John Mohawk (Seneca historian and author of numerous books on Native American issues), and Masani Alexis Deveaux (author of biographies of Billie Holiday and Audre Lorde) on my way to a masters in American Studies with an emphasis on Native American Studies and Ethnomusicology. It was at UB that my radicalism was discovered, before CUNY nutured it.Before all these academic and profession efforts I was hustling in the music business as a road manager, promoter, club and radio dj, and writer. In college, I was a DJ and promotions director at WBNY 91.3 FM an alternative station when the word still meant something. That led to various stints as a music writer and club promoter. I also spent 6-7 years as the road manager for the Incredible Lance Diamond (Warner Brothers and Arista recording artist and former 4th Goo Goo Doll) and as the manager with the bands Sky Church (featuring Stone City Band members Lanis Hughes and Mytch Meadows) and Shaft.